SEO SEM Marketing – What’s the Difference?

Do you know the difference between SEO & SEM marketing?

SEO-SEM Marketing. Is there even a difference between the two? SEO is short for search engine optimisation whilst SEM is search engine marketing. With both terms prevalent in digital and online marketing, it can be a confusing concept for those starting out in these channels.

Worse, both terms are often used interchangeably! It is imperative to understand the difference because they are different.

In this article, I’ll explain the differences between SEO and SEM marketing.

What is search engine optimisation (SEO)?

SEO is essentially a component of a larger channel, SEM. According to Google’s Knowledge Graph, search engine optimisation is “the process of maximising the number of visitors to a particular website by ensuring that the site appears high on the list of results returned by a search engine.” These results are called search engine results pages (SERPs)

Google is constantly amending and updating its algorithm and assigning relevance to varying factors. What was acceptable previously could be damaging today. Yet there remains one constant in the aspect of SEO: On-Page and Off-Page activities.

Creating a high quality, natural backlink profile ( having other high quality/authoritative sites link to your site naturally. Specifically those with higher domain authority and are relevant to your website)

Social sharing signals (how often is your content shared by others has been shown to increase the page authority’s strength)

Social bookmarking (Stumbleupon, Reddit)

Again there several other factors that contribute to Off-Page SEO. There is more written about them here.

What is search engine marketing (SEM)?

According to Wikipedia, “Search engine marketing is a form of Internet marketing that involved the promotion of websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages (SERPS) through optimisation and advertising.” Simply put SEM includes SEO tactics, plus several other search marketing tactics.

What does SEM include then?

I’ve already discussed it includes SEO (search engine optimisation), but SEM utilises paid search, like pay per click advertising (PPC) listings, social media and advertisements. Typically, SEM includes PPC campaigns and attempts to rank your website highest in SERPS, but if you combine SEO and paid search, then this is known as search engine marketing.

What are the main differences between SEO and SEM Marketing?

The main difference between these two terms is that search engine optimisation is simply a component of search engine marketing. As mentioned above, SEM includes components of paid search, like PPC but also SMM (social media marketing).

It is important to note that you should never use the terms SEO and SEM interchangeably, because although they work hand in hand, they are not the same term.

Which marketing tactic is better?

Marketers debate as to whether one tactic is better than the other. As an Digital Marketer, I would argue it depends on how quickly you want to get results but that organic SEO is the best approach. PPC can get you at the top of SERPS instantly with SMM supporting your website’s URL strength by getting the URLs shared. But ultimately consider this – true SEM cannot succeed without the use of organic SEO. Longer term I advise this is the best strategy.

As mentioned above, there are many situations where PPC (a component of SEM) makes more sense than SEO. For example, if you are first launching a site and you want immediate visibility, it is a good idea to launch a PPC campaign because it takes less time than SEO to get your site ranking in the top 4 results. But a note of caution, it would be unwise to limit yourself with only PPC and not even begin search engine optimisation.

Although organic SEO takes longer to show results, ultimately it will be less costly and you will establish a search credibility that you may not establish with PPC. There are various SEO tools that can help establish your search credibility.

When it comes to choosing the best tactic for your business, it is important to evaluate your specific circumstances and needs, but by fully understanding the differences between SEO SEM Marketing you have a better strategy of how to maintain your efforts.

Should you still be puzzled as to whether to consider SEO and SEM marketing then speak to the team at Blu Mint and we are happy to discuss your needs with you.

About David Bailey-Lauring

David is the CEO of Blu Mint Digital. A British national living in Estonia writing about digital marketing and entrepreneurship. David is also a Board member of the British-Estonian Chamber of Commerce.

Hi Shoaib, I would always recommend that you focus on SEO as it’s benefits are longer lasting. SEM is a combination of both SEO and PPC – if you or your client has a budget for PPC then do SEM but always begin with SEO. I hope this elaborates!

I totally agree that SEO is the best long term strategy for business longevity. It does take a bit longer but that’s where some SEM and Social Media Marketing can be used to drive traffic to your site while the SEO gets applied.

Absolutely Anthony – SEO is always the best strategy but as you state it does take a while. That’s why I would always utilise SEM until you begin to see it’s benefits. I too, use social media marketing, although the results vary per industry. But doing some on the right platform always helps your business.

Although organic SEO takes longer to show results, in the end it will be less costly and you will establish a search credibility that you might not establish with PPC. Search engine optimization and search engine marketing can be a confusing concept to grasp. Is there even a difference between them?

Great article, I strongly agree the benefits of SEO are much superior compared with SEM. I try to explain to clients that with PPC and SEM that they will be paying for clicks a lot of the time with no ROI. This easily allows me to explain the benefits of good SEO